Sure, New Jersey is still reeling from Hurricane Sandy, but last night was ample time after the hurricane to do a wee bit of campaigning for your own party. Even President Obama is back to campaigning. The fact that Christie embraced Obama like an online stalker earlier this week, and now this, suggests that:

White House officials seemed a bit flummoxed by Christie’s bearhug. “It’s unnerving,” one laughed, noting how odd it is that a Romney big gun might help break the stubborn tie in the electorate in Obama’s favor.

They speculate that Christie, who always puts Christie first, has decided that it’s better for his presidential ambitions to be a maverick blue-state governor with a Democratic chief executive exiting in 2016 than to have President Romney and Tea-Party Republicans in Congress pulling him over to the extreme right for the next eight years. He also knows he’ll need a boatload of federal cash to make his state whole again.

John AravosisFollow me on Twitter: @aravosis | @americablog | @americabloggay | Facebook | Instagram | Google+ | LinkedIn. John Aravosis is the Executive Editor of AMERICAblog, which he founded in 2004. He has a joint law degree (JD) and masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown; and has worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, and as a stringer for the Economist. He is a frequent TV pundit, having appeared on the O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline, AM Joy & Reliable Sources, among others. John lives in Washington, DC. John's article archive.

They didn’t “fail” during Katrina. They got exactly what they wanted out of it: Get the poor minorities out of the New Orleans by never rebuilding for them. Claim much of the now empty real estate to build for their wealthy friends so that the poor can’t afford to live there. They succeeded brilliantly.

Thank you, Baptist Church organization, for you input and your usual complaints about the “liberal media.” I don’t think there was any consensus that Bush’s hands were tied after Katrina. The national consensus was that Bush and FEMA failed in a horrific way. You’re attempting to rewrite history to suit the perspective of fundamentalist Christians who loved George W. Bush and his Christianist agenda, which is obvious since you self-identify as Baptist and whine about the liberal media.

Thank you, Baptist Church organization, for you input and your usual complaints about the “liberal media.” I don’t think there was any consensus that Bush’s hands were tied after Katrina. The national consensus was that Bush and FEMA failed in a horrific way. You’re attempting to rewrite history to suit the perspective of fundamentalist Christians who loved George W. Bush and his Christianist agenda, which is obvious since you self-identify as Baptist and whine about the liberal media.

Christie wants to reduce the photo -ops that will come back to haunt him in 4 yrs time. It remains to be seen if the Adelson-Koch-TeaParty Axis of $$ rules the Repubs tomorrow morning but nyone recall the claims that the Republican Party was d-e-a-d back in 2008?

Evidently you don’t know what is going on in NJ or New York….we have friends that have gone up there to help cook for those people…a lot of them still have no power and a bad snow storm is coming in a few days…I watched a video of a lady begging Obama for help 4 days after the storm…she said that she had a 90 year old person in her home with no power, water or food…He only went to make a show and immediately got back on the campaign trail…where is he tonight? He is sleeping in his own bed in his own warm house with electricity in Chicago…hasn’t been back or tried to make sure that everything is under control in the storm stricken area…BTW…don’t you even remember that Bush’s hands were tied during Katrina because the mayor of New Orleans wouldn’t allow anyone to come in and help from the federal government…the law is that the state has to ask for help and declare themselves a disaster area….Cristie declared it a disaster area before the storm ever came ashore and asked for help….that is the difference if there is any…but we will see how fast they get it all fixed …that is if the liberal media will report it…the only way that I know what is going on is because of our friends that have gone up with the Baptist to provide assistance

Yeah…a Christie endorsement for Obama sounds like Christie’s style. I don’t really agree with his politics sometimes, but he’s come across as a decent, stand-up guy when his state was in trouble, and I get the impression that he would actually be polite and listen to someone else’s viewpoint. Besides, I bet he knows the best burger joint in Jersey intimately.

And all the Hispanics in the Republican party are traitors. I don’t think someone like Marco Rubio will fly with America, but Marco Rubio could always decide otherwise. He could also fly to Cuba, but let us not discuss such eventualities.

Hey look ya’ll, Chris Christie will be an B teamer in 2016, if his sclerotic arteries let him live that long. The Republican A team is ready to go, Jeb, Rubio, Patraeus, and others.
Christie is a yutz,, and that may play well in NJ but No. Christie is fat and Americans are fat, but just wait for the first fat induced medical problem of campaigning non stop. Also, New Jersey.
Christie will be lucky to be considered for VP. The next Rpug Prez candidate will be a nutty non nut and a hispanic. Mark my words. Or not

Emblematic Screaming mimi post. this is exactly what I’ve been talking about.

This probably means that Chris Christie wants to run as the Republican candidate in 2016 and is setting himself up for such a thing.

Other than that, who cares. The amount of oxygen expended on this is more than the total amount of oxygen in the atmosphere on the planet Mars. The ENTIRE AMOUNT THAT EXISTS.

This is exactly what I mean by a screaming mimi post. An utterly irrelevant piece of fluff and nonsense that makes not one damn bit of difference in this reality or any other. It’s political nonsense meant to give political hacks something to talk about.

In any world whatsoever WHO CARES. Maybe he’ll do something about this piggybank in 2015. Who cares.

I don’t know, seems like too many variables to parse. Personally, I lean towards the theory that yes, Christie does not like Romney, which was probably not helped by the fact Romney didn’t bother to call or contact him for anything non-campaign related after Sandy hit. Another factor might be an opinion that Romney is gonna lose decisively.

In a way, Christie won’t need Obama to give a formal endorsement for his re-election run — he’s got all that video at the disaster sites, with Obama singing his praises.

When he showed up, he also mentioned FEMA repeatedly. He was implying a comparison with George W. Bush, under whom FEMA became a dumping ground for Republican hacks. Certainly you remember the horrific scenes after Katrina with thousands stranded for days at the New Orleans convention center in unlivable conditions. Compare that with the scene in Hoboken, NJ after it flooded: the National Guard moved in the day after the storm with food and water, and rescued stranded residents.

Regarding your question about what good Obama’s trip did, the good was actually done by FEMA and the National Guard, both of which are under Obama’s direction. Yes, Obama could have provided the same effective response without the trip. His trip to New Jersey simply brought the glare of media attention to the contrasting disaster-relief policies of Bush, Romney and Ryan, on the one hand, and Obama on the other hand. Apparently that comparison annoyed some who prefer a Romney victory. Ahem.

All of the above, and perhaps this too: It wouldn’t surprise me if the Romney people, ever looking to capitalize on disaster and human suffering for the sake of political gain, attempted to push Christie into some sort of grandstanding joint appearance amidst the wreckage — while the storm was still raging or while it was blowing itself out — and they leaned, as it their entitled wont, too hard and royally pissed him off with their pushiness and arrogance. It is more than a little strange that, even on his own, Romney, who’s entourage creates nothing like the security disruptions a presidential visit does, has not set foot anywhere in New Jersey — not once — since the disaster — even if only to tour a shelter and offer sympathy. I can’t believe his craven black soul wouldn’t have jumped at the opportunity unless he was told by Christie in no uncertain terms to stay the hell out, and that if he so much as dared to drag his ass across the Delaware Christie would come out and endorse Obama for re-election.

” It reminded us that he was better than Bush because he showed up? That’s a pretty low bar.”

Yes, it is a pretty low bar. And Bush and Romney can’t get over it.

If he hadn’t shown up Republicans would be all over him ignoring the disaster. He does show up and Republicans are all over him for grabbing a photo-op.

What’s the point of the President showing up at a disaster? Not a lot, but he does show the local people that Washington is paying attention. He has the opportunity to find out directly what’s going on and hear about problems.

i dunno…i’d think the repercussions from the gop leadership are going to pretty heavy on christie. they’re not going to forgive him this. unless he can seriously argue to them that romney was already a dead duck and that having a bff relationship with obama will improve his (and thus their) chances in 2016, which is unlikely given the base’s animosity to all things dem and especially to obama, and the fact that hilary or whoever gets the dem nomination is going to have a much better relationship with obama. i think christie’s out there on his own on this one, but i also think it’s good policy for him for the next 4 years, because i don’t think he’s actually going to run in 2016. btw, as much as i have disliked his attitude and policies so far, i have to say i’ve kind of liked him over the last week – he’s been out there working hard for his state, and of course giving credit where it’s due to the feds and the pres. but that doesn’t mean i’d ever recommend re-electing him, i think in general he’s got the wrong ideas. but i give him credit for good leadership in a crisis, better than giuliani after 9/11 for sure.

Even?? He never STOPPED campaigning. He’s been campaigning almost from the beginning of his presidency. His trip to Jersey was a small and very opportunistic part of that campaign. Other than visibility, good publicity, and some photo ops with a well liked republican governor, what exactly did his visit accomplish? It reminded us that he was better than Bush because he showed up? That’s a pretty low bar.
Seriously, what good did his trip do for the people affected by Sandy?
(Not a rhetorical question.)

Or, it could simply be that Christie doesn’t want to seem like he’s out partying it up with Mitty, while the people of his state are still suffering. I have a hard time thinking it was just simple human decency, but you never know. Tragedy makes for all sorts of strange changes in people’s behavior.